Reviving this old thread, probably better than starting over. Currently towing a 20’ Pace steel trailer with a 2nd Gen Tundra with the baby V8, 4.7 Engine. I make about 5 track weekends a year, and daily the truck the rest of the time. No real mountains to speak of as the tracks are in the SE, mostly VIR and RRR. Race car is a 900 lb vintage formula ford. Trailer is about 3,200 lbs, 900 lbs car, and figure another 900 lbs of stuff to be safe. So around 5000 lbs in the trailer. The factory documentation lists the trailer tongue weight at about 375 lbs. I have never checked the tongue weight of the trailer loaded, but there is a lot of flexibility in where the car sits in the trailer as you can imagine. Currently run an Husky Centerline WDH for sway control.

I’m pondering switching out the Tundra for a used Cayenne S or Diesel. The base model Tundra works fine as a tow pig, but it sucks as a daily, just as boring as can be. There isn’t room in the driveway to add another vehicle to the fleet. I’m getting about 8 mpg towing with the Tundra, and it has the small fuel tank, so at 150ish miles, I’m looking for a station.

I’m not too concerned with the hP / Torque, as it will be as good as the small V8 in the Tundra. Trailer has good brakes. Sway is the biggest concern, much shorter wheel base and I’ve seen comments about not running a WDH with the Cayenne.

Thoughts / comments?

 

While not a Cayenne, I towed many miles with my V8 Grand Cherokee before trading it in on a Durango. It has a similarly short wheelbase and I was towing a little lighter, around 3500lbs typical loaded weight, max maybe 4000lbs.

With that said, even without WDH, I found towing with this to be an improvement over my half ton Chevy (the air suspension was a game changer on the Jeep) and I absolutely would not hesitate to take the combo through any of our major mountain passes in the Pacific Northwest.

I think at 20' length and the kind of weights you are talking about, the Cayenne would be great. I'd probably resist the urge to go much longer than 20' to help ensure you dont have any wheelbase related challenges but I dont think you'll experience any.

-Mark

 

My girlfriend had Tuareg diesel. Great car. Great tow vehicle. after VW wrecked the tune "fixing" the engine after the diesel gate cheating scandal, it never drove as well. She traded it for a Cayenne GTS. Loves the car and it tows like a dream. The air suspension is absolutely magic.
She found that she has to keep an eye on the speedo because she was taking 40mph exits at 80mph - comfortably. Amazing. I was impressed that bought one for myself.

The WDH hitch thing is not unique to the cayenne. They just make a point of saying it. t's because Cayenne is a unibody unlike a truck.

 

Thanks for the input Dan and Mark. I’m starting to poke around at used Cayennes that are fairly reasonably priced. Looks like Transfer Cases are the weak spot and something i need to look for the maintenance history.

 

Towed a 22' ATC enclosed trailer (with a spec Miata inside) all over the midwest with a first gen Cayenne S with air suspension. Towed like a dream- only issue was I never found any good mirror extensions so I had NO idea what was right behind me. Could have had a cop with the lights on and I would have never seen him...
Cayenne is a great tow vehicle but I don't know how it would do without air suspension keeping everything level.

 

2021 Cayenne e-hybrid, steel spring suspension. I tow a 3800lb TPD trailer with a 2450lb race car and all the usual crap. No problem, except when windy I put it in sport mode which stiffens the suspension a bit.... Just got back from Thunderhil... 3 hour relaxed tow...

-Chuck